North Star Conversations Transcript: Transference, Countertransference, and the Unconscious—Alan Levy, PhD
Brandon Gimbel and Alan Levy explain how unconscious thoughts and feelings shape the therapeutic relationship and how exploring those dynamics helps bring greater awareness to patterns that influence everyday life.
Brandon Gimbel (00:00)
You're describing the treatment relationship and the dynamics in the treatment relationship between therapist and patient, and the concepts of transference and countertransference. Transference being the unconscious thoughts, feelings, wishes that the patient has towards the therapist. And countertransference is that in reverse: the unconscious thoughts, feelings and wishes that the therapist has towards the patient. And being able to explore all of that is a necessary part of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Alan Levy (00:28)
Yeah, that's where the curiosity is so important. And you reference the unconscious, which is, of course, essential part of this work.
Brandon Gimbel (00:35)
Could you define it for people who don't understand what conscious versus unconscious is?
Alan Levy (00:43)
Well, conscious is something that you can articulate and that you know is declarative. You can be aware of feelings. You're aware of what you're thinking. The unconscious is a different way of thought. And of course, the sine qua non is dreams. A lot of times we dream and it doesn't cross the threshold from unconscious to conscious. But sometimes dreams, they're residues that you start to remember, and you have inklings of this. And it's not that we know exactly what is meant as much as there's some meaning that is latent that you can't really perceive by yourself.
Brandon Gimbel (01:24)
I have a less sophisticated explanation that I give to patients, which is consciousness is what we're aware of, the thoughts and feelings that are popping into our awareness that we can kind of generally follow and understand. And unconscious thoughts we're not necessarily aware of, but are still driving our day-to-day life through feelings and drives. The work in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, as I describe to patients, is shining a spotlight as best we can on some of the unconsciousness so we can become more aware of it.
Alan Levy (01:58)
It's a big part of it. That's right.